Sports betting regulators in Massachusetts are targeting the fall for a frank and open discussion with bookmakers about their risk-management practices.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) met Thursday and provided marching orders to staff for another meeting on the limiting of sports bettors by operators in the Commonwealth.
Per the commissioners' wishes, they want a meeting dedicated to limiting to be held no later than the first week of October.
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Furthermore, given that all of the state’s active operators passed on participating in a May roundtable on limiting, citing the importance of keeping their risk management practices confidential, the MGC wants all hands on deck for the next get-together.
“I expect every operator will engage in this conversation with us,” MGC interim chair Jordan Maynard said on Thursday. “Not hope, expect.”
Massachusetts sports betting operators already expressed their wish for an operator-only meeting, but the MGC wants to hear from bettors and bookmakers. That said, Maynard said the meeting would be respectful, perhaps with one side getting its opportunity to speak while the other remains muted until their turn.
Q&A
At any rate, the MGC is set on another public conversation about the limiting of sports bettors by bookmakers, and it expects to get answers from the industry about the practice. The regulator’s work is being followed by players and other regulators, as it is the first such dive into the topic in an open setting.
“I'm not interested in having another roundtable just to have the operators come before us to say they can't talk,” commissioner Nakisha Skinner said during a meeting earlier this month.
